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| Super Universal Battery Charger |
A top of the line non rechargeable AA battery like the Duracell Ultra Power, sells in Argos for €5.99 for a four pack. A top of the line rechargeable like the Energizer 2450 mAh Rechargeable AA selling in Argos for €17.49 for a four pack.
The rechargeable pack is almost three times more expensive but will recharge up to 1000 times. Buy the non rechargeable type 1000 times and the cost is €5990. An initial investment of €17.49 will eventually save €5972.51. There is of course the cost of electricity to charge batteries and the cost of a charger, but €5972.51 will buy a lot of electricity and €20 will buy a good charger.
A 12 volt DC charger like the Super Universal Battery Charger, about €20 in Maplins Electronics, will charge batteries from a PV solar panel. I’ve used two ICP 15 watt solar panels with the Maplins charger to charge batteries.
The charger is used a lot in our house. There are radios, cameras, game controllers, several battery powered audio amplifiers, guitar preamps, stomp boxes (for guitars) and many flashlights and bike lights, all of which use AA, AAA or 9 volt batteries. Without exception there are all powered with rechargeable batteries.
Right now there are about 80 rechargeable batteries in our house. There are 54 in appliances and about 26 spares. If I were buying non rechargeable batteries it would cost a fortune.
According the the University of Cambridge website more than 15 billion batteries are used by households every year. The website Battery University estimate the global battery market is worth about 50 billions US dollars per annum, about 5.5 billion of this is rechargeable.
Non rechargeable batteries typically take 50 times more energy to make than they will produce. This is a very poor use of resources.
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| Energizer 2450 mAh Rechargeable AA |
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| The Roland Street Cube a battery powered guitar amp |
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